Originally Posted by Mellowicious
For those who have been through the immigration process, I apologize for any details I missed; this was 7 years ago. But I thought that those who have NOT been through it might be interested in hearing what it's like.

My wife and I went through exactly this process.

For what it is worth, she is extremely annoyed to go through this to join her husband... and then watch other people cross the border with impunity and then virtually demand legal status with full rights.

Also, for what it is worth, after she arrived, she found herself competing in the labor market with undocumented workers. It is her observation that her employer prefers to hire undocumented workers. These undocumented workers have resulted in fewer opportunities and lower pay for her.

Also, by in large these undocumented co-workers prefer to speak a foreign language while at work. Which makes here work situation unpleasant.

Her daughter went to high school that was heavily dominated by undocumented children of a foreign nationality. These student preferred to speak an unspecified foreign language and expressed their resentment of people not like themselves.

My wife entered this country with no preconceptions about any of these issues. But she has very strong feeling now.

As she sees it, United Fruit is not the one being punished in this situation. And given that these undocumented workers often work with diminished pay and benefits, it is not clear that their presence is primarily tolerated for the benefit of those individuals.

"It's not a lie if you believe it." -- George Costanza
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves. --Bertrand Russel